Thursday, January 18, 2018

Another Concordia creative writing prof faces harassment allegations from former students

At least two former students in the creative writing program at Concordia University in Montreal have filed formal complaints of sexual harassment with the school against a professor who remains in the English Department, CBC News has learned.

The allegations date back to the 1990s.

The two former students have told CBC that the professor would routinely switch appointments with female students from his office to his home or to another off-campus location, and then make sexual advances.

The professor is not one of two whose classes were reassigned last week.

Mary-Jo Barr, a spokesperson for Concordia University, said the professor in the latest case is not currently teaching.

In the most recent allegations, one of the former students, who is not being named by CBC News to protect her privacy, said she was uncomfortable with meeting the professor at his home, as he had requested, but he routinely refused to discuss her work in class, so she felt she had no choice.

She said she was even more uncomfortable once she got to the man's house.

"He had the table set for two," the former student alleged. "The first thing he showed me was his bed, which he told me was very convenient.

"He showed no interest in speaking about my work. He just said, 'Yes, yes, it's great. Keep going as you are.'

"I was very uncomfortable. He offered me alcohol. I said no. He didn't like that. I started getting more and more nervous, and he started talking about women's dirty underwear," the former student said.

She said at that point, she told the professor she had to leave, and he got angry, demanding to know why. Finally, she said, she was able to get away.

"I felt sick to my stomach. I felt disgusting; I felt sick; I felt gross. I felt violated by this man." (more...)